“If you are betting on soccer matches, just bet verbally,” Hun Sen said Thursday. “Just watch it, but don’t sell your cows, motorcycles, cars, houses or land for bets on soccer.”

Cambodia has only one official soccer betting company, which has been doing a brisk trade since the World Cup kicked off in Germany last week.

The chief of Cambodia’s Buddhist monks, Supreme Patriarch Non Ngeth, announced over the weekend that the country’s holy men would be granted an exception to watch soccer matches during the tournament — but he said they would not be permitted to cheer or gamble.

Monks in Cambodia are not supposed to watch television, according to Buddhism’s strictest tenets that say the holy men must abstain from pleasurable activity.

Your weird World Cup note of the day:

We hesitate to call football a religion. Clearly, our instincts are correct.

It’s way more than that.

So thinks the chief of Cambodia’s Buddhist monks, anyway. His charges aren’t allowed to watch TV, movies or artistic displays, but he lifted the ban for the World Cup.

“The monks can watch the games on TV, but they may not bet on the games,” Supreme Patriarch Nom Ngeth said. “So far, I have received some complaints that some monks are betting during this World Cup tournament.”

Yes. Monks. Betting.

So the monks are allowed to watch, but they can’t cheer or get excited.

Which should be fine as long as they’re fans of Team USA.
Source:http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/14821869.htm

What is the point to watch soccer without screaming? If the monks want to watch the matches, it means that they like sports.  They are also humans! If the monk is not allowed to laugh, to be happy or to be excited for the entire life, I think the word “monk” will be extinct.